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What's it all about?

Fast approaching 30 I've fallen in to teaching, a career though championed by many amongst my friends and family, I've tried desperately to avoid. Worse still I appear to have missed the heyday when students were keen and wages were plenty. Having left city-life behind to support my partner through a prolonged recovery from cancer, it's clear I've become isolated, not only from my old life, but from the future I hoped it would lead to...

There must be more to life than this..?

Saturday, January 29, 2011

We all make spelling mistakes and grammatical errors from time to time, some might be considered subjective. American’s use the English language very differently to us Brits. And between texting (Is that a verb? I suppose as much as Blogging is) emails, chatrooms etc, the language has been bastardised repetitiously at an alarming rate. We’ve always accepted certain colloquialisms and slang, perhaps technologies impression on our language is simply a natural progression.

That being said, surely there is nothing more important than communication and being able to read, speak and write correctly in your own language. Often the best part of marking students work (wait a second there, I made it sound more interesting than it is)... The only remotely entertaining part of marking pupils work is enjoying the mistakes they make when, on occasion, they prove to be humorous.

Recently in the opening paragraph of one essay I encountered the following mistakes.

a)‘Romeo Montague’s and Juliet Copulates family’s were...’ (This one led to a somewhat uncomfortable conversation when I tried to explain why it’s not always a good idea to use your spellchecker on your word processor).

b)‘As it satays on the fifth lime of the verse...’ (I can only assume Shakespeare had coated the particular line in question in peanut sauce whilst drinking tequila shooters... Which leads me to the next mistake and possibly supports this one)

c)‘Romeo’s best friend, Mercuito...’ (Really? Mercuito? Anyone else spotting the mistake here? I now picture the entire staging of Romeo & Juliet with a cast wearing sombreros and small Mexican moustaches... Even Juliet Copulates).

I know that Shakespearean texts can be difficult to understand when not being used to them. But I think these simple, though humorous mistakes brilliantly display why it is so important we are able to use our own language well.